Wireless terminals may be deployed in many situations, but they are particularly well suited to medical care environments, such as a hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and doctors' offices. Here, wireless terminals offer a great advantage by replacing the clipboard hanging from a patient's bed frame with a computer terminal that uses radio-frequency transmissions to communicate with a distributed computer network. These wireless terminals bring bed-side medical care into the information age by computerizing medical charts. They also make it much easier for a doctor to remotely monitor a patient's condition and alter care instructions.
In a medical care environment, a wireless terminal operates as part of a distributed patient-care computer network that might include computer resources and terminals located throughout a hospital system. This patient-care computer network might also extend to other hospital systems, the offices of the doctors that practice in the hospital, the offices of the insurance company, and so forth. A wireless terminal is typically used to post and record the information that was traditionally posted and recorded on a bed-side clipboard, such as the patient's prescriptions, vital signs, receipt of medications, scheduled tests, etc. This and other information is now automatically communicated between the wireless terminal and the distributed patient-care computer network.
As an example, consider a doctor who has patients in several different hospitals. The doctor may access the wireless terminals assigned to these patients by way of any terminal of the patient-care computer network, such as a terminal located at the doctor's home or office. In fact, the patient-care computer network might be remotely accessible from virtually any location, even a golf course or sailboat, using a cellular telephone and a laptop computer.
This type of patient-care computer network allows an off-site doctor to centrally access several wireless terminals that are in different locations without having to travel to the different locations or place telephone calls to on-site practitioners at the different locations. On-site practitioners, such as floor nurses and on-duty doctors, simply refer to a wireless terminal to learn of the off-site doctor's instruction for a patient. An on-site practitioner making the rounds usually picks-up the appropriate wireless terminal before visiting the patient and takes the terminal into the patient's room. The on-site practitioner then performs the indicated tasks and enters any relevant information into the wireless terminals, such as test results, vital signs, observations, and the like. The wireless terminal automatically transmits this information to the patient-care computer network, which the off-site doctor can later access to confirm that the instructions were carried out, further monitor the patient's condition and, if required, alter the care instructions. When the visit with the patient is over, the on-site practitioner typically returns the wireless terminal to its storage location.
Deploying a wireless terminal in this type of medical care environment presents several challenges. First, a wireless terminal assigned to a patient should be stored near the patient's hospital room for easy access by on-site medical practitioners. Second, the wireless terminal should be kept secure to prevent theft or tampering. Third, the wireless terminal should be easily accessible with one hand because a medical practitioner often has the other hand occupied with another item, such as a tray of medications, a tray of food, or the like. Fourth, a battery inside the wireless terminal should be kept charged.
To address these needs, a wireless terminal has been deployed in conjunction with a wall-mounted pod that is typically located outside of a hospital room. The wireless terminal connects to the pod for storage, and may be removed from the pod as needed. The pod houses a battery charger that connects to an electric power supply. The pod also includes a solenoid-operated lock that keeps the wireless terminal securely connected to the pod until a user enters a predefined code into the wireless terminal to unlock the pod.
These conventional wall-mounted pods include multi-pin cable connectors for functionally connecting the pod to the wireless terminal. A receptacle mounted on the back of the wireless terminal includes opposing connectors. The pod connectors are located on the top side of the pod, and the receptacle connectors are located on the bottom side of the receptacle. The wireless terminal is connected to the pod by lining-up and then pressing the connectors into engagement. The pod senses this connection and automatically activates the solenoid to lock the terminal to the pod. Thus, when the wireless terminal is connected to the pod, the receptacle sits on top of the pod, with the connectors of the pod engaged with the connectors of the wireless terminal. The wireless terminal is removed from the pod by unlocking the pod and then lifting the wireless terminal to disengage the connectors.
This conventional type of wall-mounted pod has a number of drawbacks. First, attaching the receptacle to the back of the wireless terminal requires an expensive after-factory modification to the wireless terminal. Second, the added-on receptacle makes the wireless terminal more difficult to use because, once removed from the pod, the terminal won't lay flat, face up. Third, the connectors on the receptacle can snag on clothing and break fingernails when the terminal is handled. Fourth, the upward and downward force required to remove and install the wireless terminal exerts torsion forces on the receptacle that tend to tear it loose from its mounting. Fifth, the multi-pin cable connectors often create a tight-fitting linkage that is difficult to separate.
The tight-fitting linkage between the connectors can be aggravating because it makes the wireless terminal difficult to install and remove from the pod. The tight-fitting linkage also makes one-handed installation and removal of the wireless terminal particularly difficult. Some people find the upward force required to work the connectors free straining on the back. Worse yet, the multi-pin connectors can grab and then release suddenly, causing the user's arm to swing wildly, possibly jamming the user's fingers into the pod, striking another person, or throwing the user off balance.
Moreover, the multi-pin connectors suffer from wear and tear and eventually fail. If a connector fails when the wireless terminal is connected to the pod, the terminal may be locked to the pod with no way to open the lock. Failure of the wireless terminal or the solenoid can also cause the terminal to be locked to the pod with no way to open the solenoid-operated lock. Alternatively, if the connector or the solenoid fails when the wireless terminal is not connected to the pod, there may be no way to lock the pod after returning the wireless terminal for storage.
There is, therefore, a need for an improved storage mechanism for a wireless terminal. Specifically, there is a need for a storage mechanism that eliminates the need for an added-on receptacle mounted on the back of the wireless terminal. There is a further need for a storage mechanism that allows the wireless terminal to be installed and removed with one hand without straining the user's back or otherwise releasing the terminal in a manner that could cause injury. There is a further need for a storage mechanism that is operative for locking and unlocking the wireless terminal in the storage mechanism if a component of the locking system fails.